--- title: State of the Union 2016: The Inventors Obama Mentioned description: George Washington Carver, Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson canonical: https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T05:14:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:04:41.268Z article:section: History og:title: Meet the Inventors Highlighted in the State of the Union og:description: George Washington Carver, Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson og:url: https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fbcde80d058ba92/698878e98e060136bf4641b1/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2792 og:image:height: 1571 og:image:alt: President Obama Delivers His Last State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Inventors Highlighted in the State of the Union twitter:description: George Washington Carver, Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fbcde80d058ba92/698878e98e060136bf4641b1/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Inventors Obama Highlighted in the State of the Union > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=7b5d8b60-14ce-4ad1-8658-604d10e4b4f1&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=7b5d8b60-14ce-4ad1-8658-604d10e4b4f1&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 13, 2016 5:14 AM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill Jan. 12, 2016, in Washington. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill Jan. 12, 2016, in Washington. Evan Vucci—Press Pool by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 13, 2016 5:14 AM UTC President Obama called for the renewal of the “spirit of discovery” that’s embedded in America’s DNA in his state of the Union address on Tuesday night. “We’re Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver,” he said, noting the inventors of the lightbulb, the airplane, and the man who made use of the peanut. “We’re Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride,” he said. While some of the names are household names (and/or have been featured as Google Doodles) a few aren’t. As a refresher, here’s a quick rundown of what made the individuals Obama made note of in his last State of the Union address worthy of the shout out. **Thomas Edison** **One sentence bio:** One of the most important inventors in our nation’s history, Thomas Edison held over 1,093 patents and developed groundbreaking innovations that changed the way we experienced the world. **Most famous inventions:** The electric lightbulb, phonograph, the motion picture camera **Read More:** [_Read the Full Transcript of Obama’s Final State of the Union_](http://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/) **The Wright Brothers** **One sentence bio**: Tapping into their knowledge of bicycles, Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first to get a piloted plane into the air. **Most famous invention:** The Wright Flyer **George Washington Carver** **One sentence bio**: Despite being born into slavery, George Washington Carver invented over 100 products from the peanut. **Most famous invention**: Though he did not invent peanut butter, he did use the peanut to create shaving cream, dyes, glue and lotion. **Grace Hopper** **One sentence bio**:Lesser known than some of the other notables mention on Tuesday**,** Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Hopper earned a doctorate in mathematics in the 1930s and took on the task of programming some of the first computers. **Most famous invention:** COBOL computer language, the “first user-friendly business computer software program” **Read More:** [_Grace Hopper in TIME in 1986_](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,962136,00.html) **Sally Ride** **One sentence bio**: Sally Ride became the first American woman to ever fly in space in 1983 **Katherine Johnson** **One sentence bio:** Johnson is an African-American scientist and mathematician, whose contributions to aeronautics had implications far beyond her years on the job. **Greatest achievement:** According to the White House, “she played a huge role in calculating key trajectories in the Space Race—calculating the trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, as well as for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/"},"headline":"Meet the Inventors Obama Highlighted in the State of the Union","datePublished":"2016-01-13T05:14:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:04:41.268Z","description":"George Washington Carver, Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson","url":"https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/","keywords":["state of the union","Barack Obama","History","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fbcde80d058ba92/698878e98e060136bf4641b1/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fbcde80d058ba92/698878e98e060136bf4641b1/president-barack-obama-state-of-the-union-9.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Delivers His Last State Of The Union Address To Joint Session Of Congress","caption":"President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill Jan. 12, 2016, in Washington.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—Press Pool","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union/","name":"state of the union"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4178506/state-union-inventors-grace-hopper/","name":"Meet the Inventors Obama Highlighted in the State of the Union"}}]}] ```